Moving to a new DNS service - Help?

I've been meaning to try out other DNS services for a while now. I'm looking for reliability above all else. Chrome prefetches DNS anyways so it's no biggie if the DNS is 20 or 30ms slower than Google or my ISP's.

Google's DNS has always been reliable but I'm looking for a more security-oriented DNS.

Any services worth looking into?

EDIT: Trying out OpenDNS right now - any way to configure it?

EDIT2: I see there's a dashboard... I added a network, which had the default settings filled in.

 

You don't need to create a user/use the dashboard unless you're wanting to customize something. OpenDNS will definitely be something worth considering once DNSCrypt comes to Windows. There are many, many other services now so I couldn't list them all.

 

I tried Norton but it gave me a few page issues so that was the end of that. I tried Comodo but I couldn't get it to give me a blocked page on MDL lol so I think I'll stick to OpenDNS and hope that DNSCrypt comes out soon for Windows.

 

There are lots on the list: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/probably-best-free-security-list-world.htm?page=0,12

 

Thanks. I think I'll stick with OpenDNS. Hopefully DNSCrypt comes out soon for Windows.

 

Unfortunately OpenDNS doesn't support DNSSEC which has halted my thoughts of switching. I will be trying DNSCrypt though.

 

If you want even more reliability, use different DNS services for your primary and secondary DNS servers. A while back when using just Open DNS, both of their servers had trouble getting me to some sites, this being one of them. Now I use one from my ISP, one from Open DNS, and one from an overseas DNS. No reason they all need to be from the same place.

 

Yes, in the router settings I have 2 OpenDNS ip's AND 3rd my ISP's standard ip for DNS.

But with your idea I could replace the ISP one with another service, but which one? How do we choose from the long list?

 

What you choose depends on what you need. There's more to consider than just speed and reliability. I kept one from my ISP primarily for the speed. The 2nd is Open DNS because my ISP's DNS has had its share of reliability issues. The 3rd is from an overseas country that isn't influenced by this country's growing censorship and anti-piracy noise. It gets used very rarely but it has been used. Regardless of the criteria, using 2 or 3 different ones does virtually eliminate the reliability issue. On those rare occasions that I had trouble with Open DNS, the problem affected both IPs, as would any blocking or redirecting done in the name of anti-piracy, security, etc. If by some chance they all failed, there's always Tor.

 

Speed doesn't matter to me at all since Chrome prefetches DNS in a way that I feel completely negates my need for a fast provider.

I'll try a backup. Maybe Comodo.

 

I use Public DNS Server Tool v0.91, and have it configured for Norton, Comodo, Open and Google services, in that order.
Reliability is covered by using this format.
Security is covered to my tastes via Norton and Comodo.

The tool mentioned above includes a list with a couple services not mentioned yet in this thread...
ScrubIt DNS and DNS Advantage.

The former looks promising.
The latter claims to have real-time block lists "coming soon", so maybe it is better left for future review.

 

I'd rather stick with one of the "big" ones. I'd prefer that since they probably have the money to have servers farms that can handle the load and it's just easier to trust.

 

One of the free tools I use is DNS Benchmark by Steve Gibson. It will help you determine which dns servers are currently the most reliable. I weed out the servers I don't want to be testing and change my router setting when I see a need for better performance.

You can get it here: http://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm

 

cool link
thanks
but opendns are often more slow the others sadly

 

I tried this link and downloaded it. I ran it.

Found it too hard to understand!

 

Try Namebench it's very easy to understand.

 

@Hungry Man, What's this divide and conquer program about?https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=317807


@Page42, I'm going to suggest that tool be featured by Chris Grundy.


DNS Prefetching by the browser is a security risk that can be used to load malicious content. I'm not sure what effects occur in Chromium but in Firefox is bad.

 

There's nothing malicious about resolving a domain name. The user still has to click the link - the page itself is not loaded. I can't see how this could be used to attack someone.

Divide and conquer program?

 

It's an interesting toy that gives different results every time I run it.

From my experience, I have found that where reliability is concerned, the Level 3 Communications servers at 4.2.2.1 - 4.2.2.6 have been highly reliable, faster than average, accessible from anywhere, and they don't mess with the results.

OpenDNS was better than many, but I found rather than the 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 main addresses, I had better luck with the 208.67.222.220 and the 208.67.220.222 IPs. Assuming they are still valid, I have not used them in a while.

Other than the very bad experiences I have had with Norton DNS (very slow to pick up new DNS records) and Comodo's DNS service (just not reliable), I never found a noticeable difference let alone any clear benefit over my ISP's DNS servers.

 

If a thread already exists involving DNS services and how secure they are and then you open a new thread elsewhere you are dividing the community. It is unlikely that you and I will have the same ideas, but we must have the same ideal if we are to expect achievements.

 

Seriously?
I am not familiar with Chris Grundy, but his bio has him as a home improvement guy... no?
Doesn't seem like a fella who would be inspired by a DNS server tool.

 

The topic you linked was made 4 days after mine. Bring it up with that guy lol

 

Sorry I can't find Namebench...